Award winning Leading Lives celebrates continued success

Published 26 Nov 2019

Suffolk’s Leading Lives has just picked up a national award for Public Service Mutual of the Year at the UK Employee Ownership Awards.

The business, which used to form part of adult care services at Suffolk County Council, became employee owned 7 years ago. It has 495 employee owners who are represented by a board which is made up of 100% employee elected directors.

Leading Lives has a mission to help the people who need support leading the life they choose. They offer support to people with learning difficulties, physical or multiple complex needs, in their own homes, through community hubs and through providing both routine and emergency short breaks to them and their carers.

Devolved decision making has supported employee-led innovation, which has seen surpluses invested into projects such as a youth club, skills academy and community café to help deliver additional impact to help those they support. Not only that, there has been a great impact for those who use their services with a 97% family carer satisfaction rate.

Tony Carr, Managing Director of Leading Lives, said:

“This is a strong message of how well we have been doing as an organisation during a challenging time. It will take pride of place in our boardroom and will be part of our communications now and in the future.”

“This is a great result for Leading Lives. We know from working with the organisation on a daily basis how the motivation and dedication of their staff really drives their work and the services they offer. Having this national recognition is very well deserved.”